Chapter 1674: You Want an Upgrade? You Want Me to Supply the Increase?

"What! Playing this trick again? Don't... don't drag it out." The king said, unwilling and resentful.

He knew Anthony's tactics too well—patient plotting, step by step, scheming and deceitful—nothing ever went smoothly; how could it compare to the satisfaction of cutting someone down?

His previous cooperation with Anthony had left him deeply frustrated, and now hearing Anthony wanted to pull this stunt again, the king had no desire to cooperate at all.

Although he didn't want to cooperate inwardly, the king's actions remained honest. He turned to Lania and asked: "I can leave this place, but I want to ask—do you want to extend your lifespan?"

"Extend lifespan? You mean let me extend my lifespan?" Lania asked, stunned.

The king nodded: "Yes, exactly you—extend your lifespan."

A feeling of utter absurdity welled up in Lania's heart; her thoughts fixed on the king, holding him in place for a long while before she slowly asked: "Do you know who I am?"

The king replied calmly: "Lania, Lord of the Branch Path, right? Unless you have another identity I don't know about."

"If you already know my identity, why ask such an absurd question? Can you extend the lifespan of the Divine Star? Do you even know what that means?" Lania asked, slightly angry, her tone carrying an uncontainable fury at being toyed with.

The king wouldn't tolerate her attitude, his tone even more intense: "I'm asking if you want to extend your lifespan—why are you babbling on with all this nonsense? Whether I can do it is my concern; whether you want it is yours. I'm asking if you want it—why are you worrying about whether I can?"

Inside the Divine Star, there's an irresistible decay; the entire star's temperature is rising. The decay of the Divine Star is an increment, while consumption is lifespan. Lania's reaction, in human terms, is—she's fuming.

Anger harms the body; applied to Lania, it's a real drain on her life force. She quickly suppressed her emotions, calmed down, and firmly replied: "Yes."

"Alright, I can extend your lifespan—but what can you offer in return?" the king asked.

Lania coldly said: "I'm not interested in things that won't happen. Impossible things have no value."

A tiny increment-based body dares to say such big things—if an otherworldly ghost or ancient spacetime dragon came instead, he might actually believe it.

The king smiled and said: "Let me show you."

After speaking, he triggered the increment within his body, continuously releasing it toward the surrounding star flames.

Lania's heart jolted: "Oh right—he's an increment-based body, and he can become intangible. If he infiltrates my core and releases the increment there, it could indeed extend my lifespan."

But this tiny increment is utterly insignificant—Lania is the Lord of the Branch Path, and compared to a small fire person, she's 300,000 times larger.

And the energy level of a small fire person might differ from the king's by far more than 300,000 times.

The energy level gap is too huge—Lania decays by an increment every second that could outweigh several times the king's internal increment; even if the king released all his increment, it wouldn't match what Lania burns in just one second.

Although somewhat moved, Lania still said: "What use is your little increment? I glare at you, and the increment I consume is more than what's packed in your entire skeleton."

The king laughed: "What do you mean? Do you still want me to give you increment? I help you extend your lifespan—do I also have to supply the materials? I don't produce increment; I'm just a transporter. If you have extra increment, I can help move it to your core—wouldn't that extend your lifespan?"

Lania's spirit lifted: "A good solution doesn't need constant proof—it just needs to be placed there, and anyone can see it's good."

The king is an increment-based body—he can become intangible, penetrate to the deepest core of the Divine Star. Even as a transporter, he could deliver increment to the core—feasibility is very high.

Lania was already thinking: where would the increment come from? How much could be moved each time? She even unconsciously thought the king was too small—such a tiny frame, how much increment could he carry at once?

Extending lifespan is a major matter; trivial nitpicking can be ignored. As for letting him enter her core—it's not a big deal at all.

The Divine Star's core is enormous—Lania's core region alone is already hundreds of times larger than the entire small fire person. Just reaching the core region means any released increment can extend lifespan.

The real question now is: can the king reach that position?

Thinking this through, Nania asked: "How deep can you dive?"

"Just try and see—first, remove your increment net." The king said.

Lania removed her increment net, and the king immediately became intangible, diving toward the core region.

Without Lania's obstruction, the intangible king moved easily through the star flames and soon reached the core region.

Here, he could have stopped—but he didn't. Instead, he dove straight toward the point of maximum pressure.

At the center, the king first tried to condense a finger.

But as soon as the finger formed, it was instantly crushed by the immense pressure at the Divine Star's center— the tiny specks inside turned into increment and exploded outward.

Lania's heart jumped: "No—you can't withstand the pressure at my center. Move off a bit and try again."

The king shifted a distance, moving to one-fifth the distance from the center, and tried condensing a finger again.

This time it didn't shatter immediately, but after holding for over ten seconds, the finger bone still cracked. Once the black crystal bone cracked, the increment inside exploded instantly, releasing increment outward while shattering the bone into powder.

Lania felt anxious—though she hadn't reached old age yet, her internal increment was decreasing daily. If there were a way to replenish it, she could exist eternally.

Clearly, this was a highly feasible solution with good chances of success—but it failed at the final verification.

Full of hope that might now vanish, Lania suddenly became anxious: "Here, here, here—at one-third the distance from the center. As long as it's within this range, any supplemented increment can extend my lifespan."

The king moved to one-third the distance from the center, condensed a finger, and this time held it for several minutes before it cracked.

"No—you simply cannot withstand the pressure inside my body," Nania said disappointedly.

"Don't rush, don't rush—my body can't take it, but I can switch to another body. Though my other body is larger, the current increment isn't enough to make it intangible. You need to first supply me with increment so I can fully become intangible." The king said.

If Lania had eyes, she'd probably be glaring right now: "You want to upgrade your body—and still want me to provide the increment?"